PlayAGS witnesses stocks spike following Inspired bid reports

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PlayAGS has witnessed its gaming stocks spike over the last five working days by 48.81 per cent amid rumours of Inspired Entertainment’s interest in the games machine manufacturer and distributor. 

Rising from $5.05 on August 8 at 9:30am to its highest point of $8.06 on August 12 at 1pm, PlayAGS experienced its biggest stock jump between Friday morning $6.04 at 12pm and the aforementioned 1pm standing. 

The spike came after Reuters published an article which stated that Inspired has made a $370m approach, offering an alleged $10 per share in cash. 

PlayAGS has been reached out to for further comments, however the Reuters article did note that the slot machine manufacturer confirmed in a statement that it had received a proposal and has not yet accepted the deal but “remained in preliminary discussions”. Inspired has yet to officially confirm its interest. 

Earlier last week, Inspired CFO, Stewart Baker, had disclosed during an analyst call that the company was “actively looking at a number of M&A activities”.

“We are certainly willing to use capital for M&A if it’s something that strategically fits with what we are trying to do,” Baker told investors. “There seem to be a lot of things around right now presenting themselves as possibilities.”

Moreover, 2020 and 2021 saw PlayAGS’ commercial pipeline severely impacted due to the restrictions in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with the casino gaming industry and its vendors hit particularly hard.